Dick Allen

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 07:25 PM) Except you didn't expect the team to be a 1/2 game out of first because of an extremely talented pitching staff and production from Dunn & Rios. I understand the need to develop these three guys, but at the same time you must also recognize this team can win now with it's pitching. There's got to be some balance between the two. Playing Fukudome or Lillibridge here or there is not not going to stunt Viciedo, Morel, or Beckham's development, but it could help us win a couple of games and that might be the difference between making and missing the playoffs in the end. Its 15 games. They appear much better than last year, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. Some teams that were 9-6 or better last year through 15 are Cleveland, KC, Marlins and Reds, and Angels. Texas was as well, so maybe it will lead to a WS, but there are most likely going to be some bad patches. Stick with the plan and develop your players. If it gets a little more serious down the road and Viciedo is still struggling, then you can do something.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 07:07 PM) I'm sure you're enjoying all the credit Cooper is rightfully receiving... He can receive credit and I give him credit. You really think you have me pegged, but you're really not close. The bottom line is there is some luck in a perfect game, bloop hits, swinging bunts, someone is going to hit the ball hard at some point,but the credit should go to Humber. There was hardly anything but strikeouts and routine plays Saturday. One ball I thought was hit harder than average was caught by Rios, and a foul ball was hit pretty well. Other than that, it was about as easy as it gets.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 07:05 PM) Umm....why would that be great? Now following you, here. Just for entertainment's sake? Because Ventura would be too boring? Because Ozzie might say something to get himself kicked out of baseball? Because its quite obvious Ozzie was the guy who gave this guy his shot and everything he accomplishes should be credited to him. You can blame the bad outings on Cooper.

QUOTE (SleepyWhiteSox @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 03:50 PM) cliffnotes: Coop fixed him Cowley knows it was Ozzie. When Buehrle was on Letterman, he had Wise with him. I think it would be great if Humber had the Guillens.

I think the only think more rare than a perfect game is losing a perfect game with 2 out in the ninth inning. Its only happened 10 times and the last time was because of a brutal call. Dave Steib lost a perfect game and 2 other no hitters with 2 out in the ninth. He did eventually get a no hitter. Basically if they called Ryan's swing a non swing or he didn't argue and beat it out, we would have seen something more rare.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 10:11 AM) I was more than willing to let non performers of 2011 like Rios, Dunn and Peavy go but baseball fans have short memories. They are perfomring now and hopefull ths continues. We are contending and even when not hitting on all cylinders seem to stay in the games. Maybe we have turned the corner after last season and now we are going to support or call for trades of Rios and Floyd? Let's be happy for a little while. I really doubt the Sox could trade Rios right now even if they ate half the contract. If he continues to play well and a team is willing to take it, you move him, and be happy. The chances of him living up to the contract for its duration is slim. Same goes for Dunn. They aren't going to be hot forever. Go back a week and see where they were at. A week or 2 from now, they may be heading back there. Hopefully not, but I don't know how anyone can be convinced they will now be stars based an a week or so.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 08:17 AM) Must have been one helluva HR for them to give him 5 RBI on it. It was crushed

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Apr 22, 2012 -> 05:31 PM) If we're in first place in July and Rios and Dunn are both hitting, it's absurd to trade either of them. That's telling your fans they can go f*** themselves. Would those be the same fans calling for the Sox to release those players? The same fans that produced the smallest paid attendance in 7 years the last home game? If another team is willing to take either contract and the Sox say no, that will eventually turn into a bigger f*** you to the fans than your scenario.

If Rios or Dunn play their way to the point another team would take their contract KW shouls be willing to accept a minimal return.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Apr 22, 2012 -> 02:39 AM) Knights just releasing damnation. Also, this graph reminded me of Stewarts near perfect last year. I love Coop. He made me look good.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Apr 21, 2012 -> 01:06 AM) Dunn: .265/.368/.571/.940 - 3 HR / 12 RBI All you idiots that boo the guy at The Cell, I'm sure it's just a coincidence he rakes on the road. 15 ks in 27 home ABS. If the booing from the 5k in the stands affects him that much, he should find another line of work. BTW, his batting average before last night was identical at home and on the road. He must of been anticipating those home boos in Arlington and Cleveland. Poor Adam. I'm glad he's hitting though. He looked like he was toast a few days ago.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 20, 2012 -> 09:01 AM) Ok, whatever Dick....perhaps the odds are not nil. The point is that has nothing to do with his positioning...That is something entirely different. Or is this tee ball where we can hide the guy that can't catch in left? The Sox appear to be loaded with OF who have a tough time catching the ball, The main reasons Rios was moved from CF were he was more comfortable in RF and he was struggling in CF. His route taking was about as bad as it gets. I don't think they would move him back even if De Aza suffered a season ending injury. The Sox found out the hard way he is not a CF.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 20, 2012 -> 08:40 AM) The odds of it happening again are almost nil. You could have said the same thing about him last year in CF when it happened to him twice. Over the last year and 12 games, I've seen more White Sox outfielders drop flyballs than I've seen major leaguers drop them my entire lifetime. Pierre dropped a couple. De Aza. Its crazy. I did see Ron Kittle drop one in LF once, and Ron LeFlore take one off the head for a 4 base error(It knocked him out, or at least make him a very lightheaded), but don't remember the rash of drops the Sox OFs have made since the beginning of last year.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 19, 2012 -> 08:44 PM) I disagree that De Aza was pretty good in center last year and this year he has been pretty bad so far. He has to play deep because he can't go back on a ball which is something CF'ers have to do. Yet you want Rios in CF. Did you not see his body of work in CF last year? His routes were some of the worst of all time. They both seem to have problems catching the ball at times.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 19, 2012 -> 08:26 PM) I understand your point which definitely is a reason for keeping him in center. I'm really close to labeling De Aza a liability in center though. He may be or it may be a bad stretch. He was pretty good with the glove last year, but looks shaky at best this year. Rios was a liability in CF last year himself.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 19, 2012 -> 02:58 PM) Still wish we hired someone outside the organization to be hitting coach. Seeing how awful our minor leaguers have looked in the majors, I never thought hiring our minor league hitting instructor was a good idea. I wish they hired better hitters.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 19, 2012 -> 02:54 PM) No Harrelson, not when the temperature has gone from nearly 70 in the morning to below 50. Floyd got lucky, actually, because he had another ball that should have gone out, forgot who hit it. Floyd is always pretty bad in April and May, then outstanding a couple of months before he usually limps to the finish line. Getting lit up his first 8-10 starts should not shock anyone.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 19, 2012 -> 02:54 PM) 9 of 13 outs via strike outs. How in the hell is a team with very few power hitters striking out so much? Somehow I'm sure its Greg Walker's fault.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Apr 19, 2012 -> 02:47 PM) What an awful pitch. My first disagreement with Robin. With firstbase open, why pitch to Jones when an automatic out is on deck?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 11:15 PM) At first, I was like what are Jennifer Garner and Bradley Cooper going to tell us? The architect of the Titanic (you'd have to watch the show with Victor Garber to get that)? Elias Sports Bureau Alias and Dunn are actually quite similar. They were both consistently good, then suddenly became historically bad.

QUOTE (Andrew @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 11:13 PM) Well, one thing we can agree on is we all hope he'll start to hit. Really, I don't think his shape (or his son; which you didn't even bring up) has anything to do with his issues - I just don't think he's a very valuable hitter and never have. Having said - I hope Robin isn't like Ozzie and WILL bench him. You can't expect a team to win with someone performing to (f***ing recording breaking lows!) in your lineup. This isn't little league - f*** egos. I really hope to see Robin be a stand out and make these kind of tough choices with these s*** pieces he has... Then we can talk about KW... No way he goes as long as Ozzie did, but you do have to give him more than 10 games. The Sox are 5-5. There isn't a team in baseball that won't have a worse 10 game stretch at some point during the season. Losing 2 at home to Baltimore is depressing, but a couple of wins and people will be optimistic again. I don't know if the son story is true, and his shape, I'll agee somewhat. He did put up big numbers being a fat slob for years. He was no fatter last year than his previous years in Washington. But players carrying extra weight eventually almost always pay for it one way or another, that's one reason why I think Prince Fielder is going to fall apart when he gets to be 31.32.33.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 11:09 PM) Good post. The thing about confidence? Who cares? Last year should have destroyed his confidence, what does it matter now? It's like worrying about offending Rios. I mean if we had a team leader who cared (maybe no team has a true leader anymore) somebody should ream Rios' ass for getting picked off on that Little League play. I mean alias should tell us ... when is the last time somebody got picked off on that play????? Yeah, but I think as long as you have a little hope he can still be a force, you go with it. If you move him down now, you'll probably wind up releasing him soon after and eating more money than JR can stomach.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 11:07 PM) I think attendance will speak volumes. Our fans don't want to see Dunn and Rios play baseball. It's just not worth it. If we could dump those two I think it'd be easier to embrace this team. Why go to a game and be put into such a bad/sad mood by those two? The broadcasters are making an effort to keep fans away from buying on stubhub and going "directly to the source". I think they realize walk up sales won't be astronomical this season if they aren't winning. Its only 10 games and they are .500. There's still some hope for a fun season.

QUOTE (Andrew @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 11:01 PM) Lilli and Walker have what to do with each other? I don't think people miss Walker at all. What they did miss is thinking a new hitting coach would produce a very different result offensively.

QUOTE (Andrew @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 10:59 PM) Sorry for the hijack - I just can't hate on Dunn enough. You won't find a single post from me happy about getting him. NL Central s*** ass; maintained on a 5th place team... He's the Javier Vazquez of DH candidates. If he was the DH for Minnesota, or KC, or Oakland...he's probably be "great". He's a saber-head's reality check, really. There really was no evidence the guy would become historically awful. You could make a case he was due to slip. His second half of 2010 was bad. He's a big guy and the bigger the guy, it seems the earlier they start to decline. He really didn't want to be a DH. He was switching leagues, but no way you could have possibly pegged him with the total he has right now in a White Sox uniform. The Sox didn't contend last year, he was crap. Nothing is expected this year, and he's been pretty bad. He's obviously in a little better shape this year, but it may be a case of too little too late. I guess we just have to hope its one of those things and he's going to start hitting again soon, but it sure looks like deja vu. This thing is about to mushroom.